Chapter 9: Understanding
The Order of Aroura gained renown in Usoria over the comfortable rush of five months. The six of them kept their focus limited to the Victarani province as they were so few. Soon other clerics and bishops began begging to be taught in order to combat the creatures made of shadow.
In most cases, the news of having to break their oath of celibacy kept them from accepting. Dane couldn't blame them. Some of the traveling bishops were aged and well set in their ways. Others just couldn't bring themselves to abandon the orders they had been dedicated to. Clerics and bishops as a whole were few, and despite the need to combat these creatures, clerics and bishops of the deities were needed as well.
Over the months, enough funds were gathered through offerings and gifts to build a small cottage. With direction from Dane, the order would build their new home base within the Forest of Peace. It would be deep within the East Dragon Forest, near what most called the Mountain of Healing. Here the trees grew so thickly the sun was completely blocked out as if it were permanently night.
"Why would you pick a place like this? It's so dark and hard to get to that if anyone wanted our aid they might be lost." Pharamund noted, holding up his staff as a torch to light their way.
"Perhaps it's a metaphor? Seeking out a light within the darkness?" Vieren suggested, picking his way through the shrubbery, holding out his hand for his newly married wife Tasia.
"No no Vieren. It is nothing so intellectual. I caught rumors of this forest some time ago. I searched for it, but never found it. Instead I met Enariel and searched for the Tree of Haim. When my research was not gaining any new ground, I decided to search out the forest once more." Dane explained, tightening his grip on Enariel's hand as he led them through the forest.
"Then why seek out such a subjugating place? I feel as if my shoulders are around my chest." Mars asked with a breath of awe and apprehension.
"I had hoped that a dark place would ease my study of the Darkness." Dane answered when he held up his staff and dimmed the light emanating from it. Pharamund followed suit, kneeling to the ground. Dane tapped on his rod twice, then once, then three times followed by a final tap. Shuffling could be heard as the others maneuvered in the dark, pulling Tasia and Enariel into the center of their ring.
"What's the matter?" Tasia asked with a whisper.
"Something is watching us." Dane whispered. Tapping twice on his rod and slowly raising it above his head.
"Shield your eyes." He whispered.
The violet eyed beings watched the traveling group with disdain. The dark of the forest hid most of their violent form, but even it couldn't hide their glowing violet eyes.
"They are the ones."
"They are the reason."
"Why did they do it?"
"What did I ever do to them?"
"I was pushed too far because of them!" The chorus of whispers hung thick in the air, each one a painful melody of memory from a long-passed life. Around each creature was a desire, a deep insatiable need for justice of their own doing. Some of the violet eyed creatures crept ever closer to the traveling band, limbs quivering in anticipation; the justice they sought was so close, but something held them all back. It wasn't a fear of being defeated, no that fear had long since left them. It was the fear of being no more, of not attaining the justice they sought.
Something among these people, these oppressors, was making even the strongest of them shudder. The blue and green-eyed beings were among them, watching their movements as well. They didn't fear that something as much, but they still felt an unrest surrounding the traveling group.
And then they stopped.
"I will crush you!"
"You will wish you never embarrassed me."
"I will show you the pain you caused!"
"Who's the big boy now?!" All the multitude of whispers thickened, closing in around the traveling group, overpowering their fear of that something. The need for revenge, justice, resolution, or whatever word was needed drove them on. The blue and green-eyed beings stayed back. They had no vengeful intentions and playing any kind of trick now wouldn't be as funny, not with the others surrounding them and instead decided to pull away from the depressing air.
All at once the entire area was engulfed in blinding white light. The violet eyed creatures shrieked in pain as their bodies were shredded to scraps. Flashes and spears of light split the darkened air, tearing through the creatures and trees alike. Hissing masses of whispers arose as the creatures were dispatched. Within a few moments the area was silent with only the sound of the humans breathing hanging in the air. The blue and green-eyed beings looked to each other, blinking away the rainbows in their eyes.
"What was that?" the Green-eyed being asked.
"I don't know but it makes my core feel like its vibrating." The Blue-eyed being answered.
"Let's get out of here!"
"You have no argument from me!"
"Is anyone hurt?" Dane asked, slowly lighting the area once more so as not to blind anyone. Pharamund, Mars and James followed suit, revealing Tasia to have a small gash on her forearm and a burn mark on the side Xenos face.
Enariel quickly tended to their wounds, careful to limit herself to the amount of power a human would use. But Xenos's wound was much more stubborn than a simple burn; it was as if his flesh were rotting and turning to vapor before their very eyes. Enariel watched to ensure that no one watched apply divine power to the wound.
She first cleared away the rotting flesh then closed over the wound. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to fully restore his face for that would reveal who she truly was. Dane had explained to others that she was the last fairy of Usoria, and to an extent they all seemed to accept her which allowed her use of a slight bit of divine power without question.
"That's fairy healing magic for you. Always an immense blessing to watch you work Lady Enariel." Mars commented, offering a drink of water to Xenos. Enariel smiled in thanks, looking over her hands as the 'divine shine' as she called it faded from her fingers.
"Did you use some?" Dane asked quietly. Enariel nodded as Dane took her hand and kissed her knuckles, dissipating the shine all the quicker.
"Thank you. Now, let's continue on. I think we are close to the ideal spot." Dane announced as the others filed away from the area. Dane however lingered for a time. There was something in the dark, something that he had always known about but could never fully explain. Two presences were near and had been near him for some time. But the light from his staff and the darkness surrounding them prevented his seeing them. Perhaps once they had the cottage built there would be time to explore this presence.
A combination of strength of arm and knowledge of magic soon had the two-story cottage built. It was smaller than they hoped, but for the money available it was comfortable enough to give Vieren and Tasia their own room, as well as Enariel and Dane. The others agreed to share a room with the understanding that if needed, they could always expand. Once they building was complete, Pharamund and Mars set about making soft lighting crystals around some of the trees to light their way through the forest to the cottage.
With the cottage now complete, Dane set about trying to understand in depth how he could extract and eliminate the Darkness in the world once and for all. He started small, creating salves, potions and elixirs to help him extract small bits of Darkness to contain and study. Perhaps if he could narrow his search to the 'shades' of Darkness as he had done before, he would be able to better identify and apply his light.
With each passing day, he would discover 'shades' of Darkness, but it was far more intense then he could quantify. His research with Menodora revealed in total seven distinct shades of Darkness. His research at the cottage in just under a month revealed more than a hundred with more appearing daily. Some were similar but all had their unique signature making it nigh impossible to know how to apply his light. Enariel came into his study one day to see Dane leaning on his hand furiously scrawling notes on a parchment.
"If you write any harder that paper with catch flame." She chuckled standing next to him, putting an arm around his shoulders.
"I've managed to find that Darkness exists yet have not been able to find one thing that will help me to get rid of it in mass." Dane sighed with an edge of frustration as he leaned back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. Enariel looked all around them, noting dozens of small bottles containing what appeared to be black clouds.
"Perhaps all these are giving you problems." She suggested, reaching for one of the bottles to look at it in more detail. But as she picked it up and brought it closer, she began to feel a fear settling into her being. The moments passed slowly as the fear began to form into a fear of… Dane? She pulled her hand away from him as the fear began to split and become something else: shame. The fear then began to split again, this time fear that the shame she felt would be discovered. Questions began to form in her mind.
"Why did this happen? I did nothing wrong, why did he do that? Will I ever be worthy? How could I have been so stupid?" Enariel's skin turned pale as the world around her faded away into a dark and pressing void. Nothing but her fear, questions and shame drove themselves into her like spears of fire. As the weight of her feelings began to overwhelm her, the Darkness around her suddenly vanished. Dane pulled the bottle from her hand and gripped her to his chest, holding the bottle away from her. The stillness slowly calmed her down as the rhythm of Dane's heart gradually brought her back to reality.
"Are you alright Enariel?" Dane asked with a concerned edge in his voice.
"What was that?" she asked with shaky breath, breathing hard as if she had been on the verge of tearts.
"What you were experiencing was the gathered emotion of someone who may have been abused or raped. I can't exactly tell but that is what you experienced." Enariel wanted to reach for Dane's shirt and grip it as hard as she could to ground herself but there was still a lingering fear.
"It felt… I felt like I should have done something different. If only I had…"
"Enairel. Those are not your emotions. Breathe and listen to what I am saying. You have nothing to fear from me. I have not and will not assault you. Ever. Think back to what you know of me; don't focus on the present right now, focus on the past." It was a struggle, but Dane's words kept her focused enough to think back on when she first met Dane, what it was the drew her to him, and how she had fallen in love with him. A few moments later, her fears and shame were gone.
"How is Darkness able to do this? It's contained but flooded my mind so easily, yet you seem unaffected." Dane sighed with relief helping her to her feet and putting the bottle away.
"This is a powerful pain, left uncomforted, tucked away within the human spirit where it festered. These are all secret pains of people who died or were consumed by it." Dane explained motioning to the other bottles within the room with labels like abuse, abandonment, rejection and loss.
"Without the knowledge of what it is or how to make sure it doesn't affect you, it will infect you very easily. All Darkness is like this. With what I know of magic, it is barely enough to maintain my control and not become lost to its thrall in this small amount." Enariel leaned against his back and put her arms around him noting that the room felt heavier than she first realized.
"Then why aren't the people of the world affected more? The power contained within this Darkness should send everyone into a spiral of depression and fear." Enariel asked.
"Perhaps direct contact with Darkness as opposed to indirect exposure such as exists in the world is what makes it so much more dangerous." Dan answered, setting the bottle down next to his journal. Enariel put her hand on his shoulder, sliding down his arm and lacing her fingers with his.
"Perhaps a walk would give you a chance to clear your mind away from all this bottled pain." She suggested, turning him around before leading him out the door. Immediately Dane appeared to brighten, despite the constant night-time like air of the forest.
Reaching back inside the door, he grabbed his staff and grabbed her hand, bringing Enariel with him as he wondered through the forest. They both admired some of the plants the grew in the comforting glow of the Guide Crystals he and the others had made to light their way through the forest.
"It's them again." Grumbled the blue eyed being.
"They always come out after a couple weeks. Maybe they are ready for another trick?" the green-eyed being answered, floating up next to the blue eyed being.
"He doesn't have that thing that makes us scared, so maybe we should be able to get him good!" the Blue eyed being giggled.
"Yeah! We should be able to try that snake trick again! It'll be funny to watch him dance and flail in terror!" the green eyed being exclaimed. The two of them giggled and snorted as they searched for a dangerous snake. They managed to slip away from Guwaru and his constant scornful gaze, learning a thing or two about what snakes were dangerous to humans.
Once they had found their snake, the blue eyed being picked it up, giggling as it tried to snap at him but only caught a mouthful of wispy, smoke-like aura. The humans were hard to find again despite the man have the long white hair and the woman having those brightly colored wings.
Once they did though, the two of them were sitting on a rock, just talking and pressing their faces together over and over again. The green eyed being watched with what appeared to be envious apprehension. But the blue eyed being scoffed and rolled its eyes.
"Look, remember what we were going to do here!" he scolded with a hissing whisper. The green eyed being's eyes squinted as if smiling and nodded. They waited for just the right opportunity when both of the humans stood.
"It's now or never! Do it!" the green eyed being seethed. The blue eyed being was ready to toss the snake but the both of them stopped when the man turned to them. He stared at them for a long while before speaking, probably to make sure the woman didn't hear.
"It's you. I know you're there, so come out into the light."
"Enariel, tell me. How human are you right now? I know that you are simply using this body as an avatar for your true self to walk among us human. But how for does that extend?" Dane asked, sitting down on an outcropping of rock. Enariel sat down beside him and thought for a minute.
"What is it you are asking? Are you asking if this body has the ability to bare children?"
"I suppose to some degree I am. But what I am more curious to know is whether your extended stays within this body are affecting you as a goddess? Is harm coming to you as you are? Are you irreversibly changing?" Dane asked. Enariel thought as she looked over the nighttime landscape before leaning against him.
"There are many ways in which you have changed me Dane. I may be a goddess, but during my stays here I have been provided a glimpse of how precious, how disproportionately short your beautifully tragic lives are. There are sometimes that I curse my existence to know that I will outlive you and all humans alive today many eons over." She sighed, leaning over and pressing her lips to Dane's with all the passion she felt deep within her being.
"But then I remember all the time we have shared and how you have shown me that while your lives may be short, they are the most meaningful. If I could, I would abandon my post as goddess so that I may live out my days with you." Again, she kissed him with slow but deliberate movements.
"I do not think I would even ask such a thing of you. The world relies on your existence, and it would pain me to know that the world you grew to love with me would be deprived of you. If and when the day comes that I do die, and it will, I will still be a part of it. I will live on in here." Dane pointed to her chest as Enariel reached for his hand, placing it over hear heart. It was a comfort to feel the warmth of his hand. She knew she was able to travel through the Memory Hall to relive this exact moment any time she wished. Sadly, she would never feel the memory ever again. She would never feel the warmth of his hand, the strength, the size of his touch this way ever again.
"Promise me this Dane; you will find a way to defeat the Darkness and you will never be taken by its thrall." Enariel begged as Dane cradled her jaw before pressing his lips to hers with a long and firm kiss.
"I promise." He whispered, leaning his forehead against hers for some time before they both stood.
"I suppose we should be getting back, it's been a couple hours." Enariel suggested.
"I will join you shortly. I have a few thoughts I wish to explore before returning to the study." He smiled as she left, their hands lingering on one another for some time before Enariel spread her wings and fluttered back to the cottage. Dane meanwhile turned his attention to the bramble behind the rock and stared hard at it. When he was sure Enariel was far enough away he spoke firmly.
"It's you. I know you're there, so come out into the light." Dane commanded as the blue eyed and green eyed beings came out into the light of the crystals. Before Dane could say anything more, the blue eyed being tossed a snake at Dane. Instead of getting the panicked reaction the two beings were hoping for, Dane simply watched the snake land at his feet. The snake didn't do much for a moment, rather flicked its tongue a few times as through righting itself. Dane reached down, picking up the snake and staring it in the eye for a long while before he casually set it down. The beings were in dumbfounded awe as the snake slithered back into the forest.
"Aww come on! That was supposed to surprise you! Make you dance!" the blue eyed being exclaimed. Dane chuckled softly.
"You two are quite mischievous aren't you. You both tried to pull this trick on me once before a long time ago." The blue eyed being narrowed his eyes as the green eyed being spoke up.
"Yeah, and after that we were going to jump out of the bushes and scare you off. That would have been hysterical!" The blue eyed being laughed in unison with the greed eyed being as they recounted their plans. Dane chuckled again as he listened to them speak.
"Yes well, something like that would require that I would be at least a bit afraid of you." The beings raised what appeared to be an eyebrow and looked at one another perplexed.
"Hey how come you aren't afraid of us? We've jumped out at other people before and they scream and yell as loud as they can while running away. But you aren't even shaking." The Blue eyed being scoffed, looking Dane up and down to size him up. Dane thought back to what Nanahuatzin had told him about who he was, and why he was so attuned to the imbalance of the world.
"Perhaps it is because I am not your usual human. Normal humans can't sense things as I do. The other humans that come here can also sense things that no ordinary human can." Dane answered with a grin, kneeling to a knee to better see the beings before him.
"Tell me, what are you? You aren't like the other creatures that are formed of Darkness." Dane said. The beings looked at each other, unsure how to answer.
"We are…" The green eyed being began, stopped when the blue eyed being nudged the green eyed being.
"What?" The green eyed being hissed, before the blue eyed being turned to Dane to ask a question.
"What are you doing here human? Guwaru has charged us with keeping our forest safe!"
"No, he didn't! You made that up!" the green eyed being shot.
"Yes, he did! This is OUR forest! You cannot simply come here and claim it as your own!" the blue eyed being growled, lowering its brow to a scowl.
"Do you even claim ownership of the Darkness that permeates it?" Dane asked. The blue eyed being was taken aback.
"Darkness? Y-y-yes. Yes! We claim that Darkness as ours too! You can't come in here to take it!" The green eyed being shot wide eyed stares back and forth between Dane and the blue eyed being until Dane laughed heartily.
"What's so funny? You doubt our claim calling ownership of something?!" the blue eyed being growled. The green eyed being became worried, remembering the feeling that always seemed to hang around this human. That feeling wasn't here, but perhaps he was just hiding it somewhere and would use it on them. They had both seen how easily he had torn through those other beings with the purple eyes.
"No no, I am not doubting that. But I don't think you can claim ownership of the Darkness in its entirety. It exists everywhere. Even within our very presence, it exists. It may very well exist in your Guwaru's forest." The blue eyed being backed down from the hostile stance taken, raising an eyebrow and speaking low to the green eyed being.
"This human is strange." Dane chuckled once more and held a hand out to them.
"You beings are equally strange I would say. You are so much more than a mass of pain and anger. And I would very much like to visit with this Guwaru you speak of." The beings looked to each other. They had always scared humans away for a good laugh, but now one of them was talking to them and even asking to meet someone they held in authority, despite their dislike of him.
"Come here tomorrow." The blue eyed being said sharply, turning and floating back into the forest, followed soon after by the green eyed being.
"What are you doing?!"
"That human is meddling so much here and he's no fun! If we bring Guwaru, perhaps he can scare him away."
"Now what is this about meeting someone you two? I cannot be away from the forest too long you know." Guwaru grunted, his arms creaking with each movement he made.
"It's a weird human that has moved into the forest. He's chased us and swatted at us calling us monsters!" the blue eyed being snickered.
"Yeah! He even said that he'd send a bunch of other humans after us if we stopped him!" the green eyed being added.
"And what was he doing that he would chase you?" Guwaru asked, his raspy, gravelly voice echoing for a while leaning over to better look the two of them in the eye. The green eyed being stuttered, trying to come up with a reason.
"He was… he was…"
"He was cutting down trees to burn them for his camp fires!" the blue eyed being shouted. The blue light within Guwaru's being and his eyes faded to red.
"I see. What was this human's name?"
"I think he called himself Dane."
"Then I shall see this human and put a stop to it!" he hissed floating off in the direction the two beings had pointed him where this human was going to be. It didn't take him long to find the clearing where the human was, parting the trees with his wide body speaking with a loud note.
"Dane! You dare come into the forests and cut them down for your mere fires?!" Guwaru thundered.
"Fires? Why would I be cutting down your forests for fires? Yes, I have burned some wood, but only that of fallen branches or trimmings."
"Are you not the human I was to stop here?"
"I was to meet a forest Guardian by the name of Guwaru. Are you he?" Dane asked with confused optimism.
"I am Guwaru. Have you not been torturing my charges? The forest spirits of north and south?" Dane raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Torturing forest spirits? I would wish no such thing! I am merely here to better understand the Darkness." The red from Guwaru faded back to a calm blue color as he looked over his shoulder to the two beings peeking out from behind a tree just outside of the light.
"Then you are the famed White Mage correct?"
"Yes. What is going on here?" Dane asked with a degree of agitation.
"I must apologize White Mage. It seems that I was misled. Now, what is it that you wish to speak to me about? My time is limited." Guwaru replied staunchly as he turned his attention back to Dane.
"I had hoped that I would be able to glean some knowledge from you as to what those two beings are. But in the confusion, I have found my answer." Dane smiled. Guwaru did nothing, simply stared at him.
"I also hoped that I could perhaps try to understand what the difference is between them and the creatures that seem to stem from Darkness itself." Guwaru grunted, holding his hands across from one another as images appeared between them.
"As I said, they are the forest spirits of the north and south, two amongst tens of thousands that exist in Usoria. At the beginning, the Great Mother Minerna created many, many beings to inhabit this world and planted them to await the call to be awakened when the time came. Many of these being still lay in wait for their calling within my forest. But when the Darkness descended as it did, these two were awakened by it and forever changed." The image shifted to blue and green transparent creatures with four stubby legs and small stubby spines on its head.
"This is how they were supposed to appear. But the Darkness changed them into what they are now. They aren't hateful creatures, but they are bothersome with the 'tricks' they play on any number of humans."
"Would extracting the Darkness change them back into what they were meant to be?" Dane asked.
"As I said, the Darkness as forever changed them. Others too have been touched by Darkness, but they weren't as fortunate to become the mischievous pests these two are. If the Darkness were to be extracted, I doubt they would ever truly be what they were meant to be."
"I am making some progress in my studies of the Darkness to find ways of ridding it from the world. But I fear that its power is growing faster than I and my Order can combat. Would you be able to lend me your assistance Great Guwaru?"
"I have done my best to keep the Darkness away from the creatures within my forest and it is taking all of my power to do so. I fear that one day my power will not be enough to keep them safe but until then, I cannot leave my forest to give you the assistance you require. I do know two who can however." Guwaru growled, looking back to the blue and green eyed beings.
"I would appreciate any help that I can have."
"Then so be it. I must return to my forest. I await your findings, White Mage. You two will assist the White Mage in any way that he sees fit as punishment for your misbehavior." Guwaru grumbled, disappearing through the brush. The green and blue eyed beings begrudgingly came forward into the light.
"What does that mean?" the Green eyed being asked.
"I beg your pardon?" Dane answered.
"When you were talking to Guwaru, you called us 'beings'. What does it mean?" Dane put a hand to his mouth for a moment, thinking long and hard about how he would answer the question.
"It means… It means to feel, to experience existence. To stand on your own and recognized the world around you; to feel the world around you."
"How can we stand on our own when we have no feet like you human?" the blue eyed being asked sarcastically.
"To stand on one's own does not mean literally to stand. It is a metaphor, a representation of being independent. Though having one's own feet does tend to change the perspective." Dane smiled.
"We also don't have hands, or face, or squishy bits for that matter." The green eyed being added.
"I suppose that all of those things can make the world appear to be different to someone like me. Would you like to know what the world is like through human eyes? Do you desire a human form?" Dane asked. The words of Guwaru came back to him, stating how the Darkness had forever changed these spirits. Perhaps then it would be a simple matter of changing them into humans from this aura-like form. He had learned a great deal of transmutation magic. Coupled with his alchemic teachings from his days in Margata, he was certain he could do it.
"Would it hurt at all?" the blue eyed being asked.
"I cannot say, as this would be the first I have ever attempted something like this."
"What are we waiting for! That sounds like fun! Let's do it!" the green eyed being shouted excitedly.
"However, there is something that I must ask of you in return."
"What is it?" the green eyed being asked.
"You two have been affected by Darkness and as such have a very different view of it. I want you to help me understand and explore the Darkness."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, now make us into a human! Oh! And make us look the same since we always like to be together." the green eyed being exclaimed, bobbing up and down in the air. Dane laughed quietly at the green eyed being's excitement.
"You are going to need names if you are going to be human. I can't keep calling you 'green eyed being' or 'blue eyed being'."
"What's a name?" the blue eyed being asked.
"It is a way to identify you. Another way of 'standing on your own'."
"You humans are all so weird. You have so many things to make sure that you can all 'stand on your own'. It's so confusing." Dane chuckled. Perhaps there were many things that humans did that were quite redundant. But it would be interesting to teach these beings the meaning and nuances of being human.
"How about this, your name from now on shall be Lotus." Dane stated, motioning to the blue eyed being.
"And yours shall be Orchid." He said, motioning towards the green eyed being.
"Such pretty flower names. I like them. Would you agree? L-lotus?" Orchid asked. Lotus said nothing, slowly nodding approval.
"Then welcome into the company of the Order of Aurora, Lotus and Orchid."